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    What’s in a Name? The Importance of Being Earnestly Yourself

    The Importance of Being Earnest is Oscar Wilde’s witty play centering around Jack Worthing and the consequences of having a false identity (named Ernest) to escape social obligations and limitations. As Jack explains to his friend Algernon Montieff, his name is “Ernest in town and Jack in the country” (5). Algernon learns of this deception by an inscription on Jack’s cigarette case, addressed to him by his real name, and is shocked by his confession, responding that Jack looks “as if [his] name was Ernest” and that “[he is] the most earnest looking person he ever saw in [his] life” (5). Jack’s situation turns into a complicated affair when his…